Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria

Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria (SV 325, The Return of Ulysses to his Homeland) is an opera consisting of a prologue and five acts (later revised to three), set by Claudio Monteverdi to a libretto by Giacomo Badoaro. The opera was first performed at the Teatro Santi Giovanni e Paolo in Venice during the 1639–1640 carnival season. The story, taken from the second half of Homer's Odyssey, tells how constancy and virtue are ultimately rewarded, treachery and deception overcome. After his long journey home from the Trojan Wars Ulisse, king of Ithaca, finally returns to his kingdom where he finds that a trio of villainous suitors are importuning his faithful queen, Penelope. With the assistance of the gods, his son Telemaco and a staunch friend Eumete, Ulisse vanquishes the suitors and recovers his kingdom.

Il ritorno is the first of three full-length works which Monteverdi wrote for the burgeoning Venetian opera industry during the last five years of his life. After its initial successful run in Venice the opera was performed in Bologna before returning to Venice for the 1640–41 season. Thereafter, except for a possible performance at the Imperial court in Vienna late in the 17th century, there were no further revivals until the 20th century. The music became known in modern times through the 19th-century discovery of an incomplete manuscript score which in many respects is inconsistent with the surviving versions of the libretto. After its publication in 1922 the score's authenticity was widely questioned, and performances of the opera remained rare during the next 30years. By the 1950s the work was generally accepted as Monteverdi's, and after revivals in Vienna and Glyndebourne in the early 1970s it became increasingly popular. It has since been performed in opera houses all over the world, and has been recorded many times.

Vanilla Fudge

Vanilla Fudge is an Americanrockband known predominantly for their extended rock renderings of contemporary hit songs, most notably "You Keep Me Hangin' On" and "Some Velvet Morning". The band's original lineup—vocalist/organist Mark Stein, bassist/vocalist Tim Bogert, lead guitarist/vocalist Vince Martell, and drummer/vocalist Carmine Appice—recorded five albums during the years 1966–69, before disbanding in 1970. The band has reunited in various configurations over the years, and is currently operating with three of the four original members, Mark Stein, Vince Martell, and Carmine Appice with Pete Bremy on bass for Tim Bogert, who has retired from touring. The band has been cited as "one of the few American links between psychedelia and what soon became heavy metal."

History

Stein and Bogert played in a local band called Rick Martin & The Showmen. The pair were so impressed by the swinging sound and floods of organ of The Rascals they decided to form their own band with Martell and Rick Martin's drummer, Joey Brennan. Originally calling themselves The Pigeons, they changed the name to Vanilla Fudge in 1966, after the replacement of Brennan by Appice. The group was then "discovered" and managed by reputed Lucchese crime family member Phillip Basile, who operated several popular clubs in New York. Their first three albums (Vanilla Fudge, The Beat Goes On, and Renaissance) were produced by Shadow Morton, whom the band met through The Rascals. When Led Zeppelin first toured the USA in early 1969, they opened for Vanilla Fudge on some shows.

Plot

The episode starts from exactly where the last episode of the first season ends. Elena (Nina Dobrev) walks in the door and she hears a noise in the kitchen that makes her go check what is happening. She finds John (David Anders) lying on the floor and she immediately calls 911. Katherine is standing right behind her and John warns her about it. Elena grabs the knife and tries to see who is in the house but Katherine leaves before the two meet. Elena rushes to Jeremy's (Steven R. McQueen) and finds him unconscious in his bed.

The paramedics take John away when Stefan (Paul Wesley) arrives and checks Jeremy to see if he is a vampire. Stefan says that he is still a human and he assumes that Jeremy did not take enough pills to really kill himself and Anna's blood healed him. He warns Jeremy not to try it again since the vampire blood exits his system very quickly and he could easily end up killing himself for real.

The Return Of...

I Can feel this coming together.Frequency live from beneath the snow.Signal escape, we might take forever.Don't think I don't know. I'm not alone.Silver lining serrated to sever.Static claimed from the lines above.But a couple of bucks and a fistful of lucksays the skies open up above my home.I bet you I won't sink.Hell, after a couple of drinks I might goddamn well just fly away.I bet you I won't fade.I'll burn out brilliantly. A cacophony of energy.I can hear the dramatic drowning. Transmission live from beneath the words.Signal eclipse, ignorance in a sea of "guess what I heard"s.Polished motives advance so gently. We wear our advantages like a crown.The same couple of bucks, the same fistful of luck saysI'm in the shade when it all comes down.I remember changing weather, but never this rapidly to gray.I think I need to replant my dreams.I remember the spark fading, so how did it burn my scenery?My heart belongs elsewhere it seems.Position yourself with the best of friends, remain safe when it all goes down.Just sit and stare. A night like this could run yourself into the ground.There's only hope when you know despair. His only chance is to never care.So if you're going to speak of hope,let everything go and see what takes you there.When I say goodnight to this extraordinary life of mine,I'll take to the skies in hopes to findthat all the lights above this town indulged the hopeless,

Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria

Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria (SV 325, The Return of Ulysses to his Homeland) is an opera consisting of a prologue and five acts (later revised to three), set by Claudio Monteverdi to a libretto by Giacomo Badoaro. The opera was first performed at the Teatro Santi Giovanni e Paolo in Venice during the 1639–1640 carnival season. The story, taken from the second half of Homer's Odyssey, tells how constancy and virtue are ultimately rewarded, treachery and deception overcome. After his long journey home from the Trojan Wars Ulisse, king of Ithaca, finally returns to his kingdom where he finds that a trio of villainous suitors are importuning his faithful queen, Penelope. With the assistance of the gods, his son Telemaco and a staunch friend Eumete, Ulisse vanquishes the suitors and recovers his kingdom.

Il ritorno is the first of three full-length works which Monteverdi wrote for the burgeoning Venetian opera industry during the last five years of his life. After its initial successful run in Venice the opera was performed in Bologna before returning to Venice for the 1640–41 season. Thereafter, except for a possible performance at the Imperial court in Vienna late in the 17th century, there were no further revivals until the 20th century. The music became known in modern times through the 19th-century discovery of an incomplete manuscript score which in many respects is inconsistent with the surviving versions of the libretto. After its publication in 1922 the score's authenticity was widely questioned, and performances of the opera remained rare during the next 30years. By the 1950s the work was generally accepted as Monteverdi's, and after revivals in Vienna and Glyndebourne in the early 1970s it became increasingly popular. It has since been performed in opera houses all over the world, and has been recorded many times.

TheReturnofUlysses is, of course, a very different kind of opera, written for a wider audience and a much larger venue ... so that bunches of white balloons, which the glutton Irus (Stuart Jackson) bursts so gleefully, stand for the flock ofthe shepherd Eumaeus (Mark Milhofer)....